Jesus Montero Linked to BioGenesis
The New York Daily News reported this morning that inspection of the BioGenesis files turns up some mentions of Jesus Montero. The report doesn’t say in what way Montero was connected, and it’s worth noting that the original reporters on this story – the Miami New Times – declined to name Montero in their report because they didn’t feel they had enough evidence to conclusively tie him to the PED supply records, as they did with the six players that they did name.
But, let’s be realistic – a player’s name being linked to BioGenesis is not a good thing. It’s not a smoking gun, and you shouldn’t automatically brand Montero a steroid user, but it’s not nothing either.
The Mariners put out a generic statement, saying that they were aware of the report and the investigation was in MLB’s hands, which is basically the truth. The Joint Drug Agreement gives the teams no powers to enforce any kinds of penalties on their own, so the Mariners couldn’t do anything about this even if they wanted to. They’ll just have to wait and see what the results of the investigation bring about. Odds are pretty good that Montero will face additional testing under the “reasonable cause” section of the JDA, but until he actually fails a drug test, it’s going to be hard for MLB to suspend him, or any of the other players linked to BioGenesis, based on the rules agreed to in the JDA.
This probably isn’t the last we’ve heard about this story, either. The full list of names linked to BioGenesis hasn’t yet been released, and it’s hard to miss the repetitive connections between clients of the ACES agency — who represent Montero — and those who live and train in the Miami area. The Mariners have other players who are represented by ACES and other players who live and train in the Miami area. I’m not going to be too shocked if Montero is joined by a fellow teammate or two in being linked to BioGenesis in the coming weeks. We don’t know enough to say anything definitively about Montero or anyone else, but this is a story that probably isn’t going to go away any time soon.
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Some small part of me hopes Raul will be caught up in this, suspended and the Mariners will have to play Casper Wells. A man can hope right?
Hopefully they deal in legitimate products too, and the reason his name wasn’t in the initial conversation is because the “sources” didn’t include him in the list of guys who were taking banned substances. Seems like a setup for trouble if they were ONLY providing banned substances– ’cause they’d have a harder time getting clients.
At this point, we should definitely avoid “guilt by association” assumptions. But like Dave said, it’s not gonna go away, so if there’s something there, we’ll know soon enough. Including other players on the team.
This is just sad.
As Rick Randall pointed out, Jesus Montero has a brother also named Jesus Montero who played in Florida in 2010 and also had a season ending injury in 2012.
Mariners represented by ACES include: Montero, Ibanez, Noesi, Kinney, and Morse. Plus Fabio Castro and former Ms, Milton Bradley and Chone Figgins(!).
If Figgins is found to have taken PEDs while with the Mariners, the entire debate could come crashing down…
But…but…you don’t mean Mike Morse, do you? When you buy “power”, you buy controversy.
Hahahaha!! LMAO!!! I see what you did there Kyle. That was too funny!
[off-topic]
Hey, we might have found the source of Mike Morse’s newfound power since moving to the East Coast? Deer Antler Spray!
Er… Cool.
(A coincidence that Ibanez is a client of their’s too? And just happens to be an older teammate of pariah Alex Rodriguez, while trying to keep his career going? This scares me… What if Montero, Morse and Ibanez are suspended? I really hope there’s nothing to this connection.)
Oh man… here we go again. Let’s try not to hang people out to dry until/unless we get solid evidence.
I’m not talking to Dave or to any of the posters so far, in truth – there’s certainly nothing problematic in anything Dave said. I just get tired of the witch-hunts that invariably seem to go hand-in-hand with these sorts of allegations.
I have a feeling suspensions are coming. Not sure who or how long but this one isn’t going to be swept under the rug.
[off-topic]
Is anybody else troubled by the current reality that many talk about a “post-steroids” era as if this has really come about (HoF debates use that turn of phrase frequently when talking about who should get voted in).
Sure, the particular drug may change over time, but we are in a reality now where many, many major leaguers (and althletes in most sports) will be using the latest PED hoping their career is lucrative but gets them past the point of suspicion and they can retire before allegations about their use surface. Those who remain clean are disgusted that their natural talent can’t overcome those who use.
I guess I am feeling the weight of that reality more and more these days. Are we faced with a WWE entertainment version of baseball forever now, where we accept that it is mainly an altered reality we should just enjoy like a movie? It saddens me.
“Oh man… here we go again. Let’s try not to hang people out to dry until/unless we get solid evidence.”
So true.
And in the interim, can we also differentiate people who have actually failed a drug test from those who haven’t?
All these “I’ve never heard of that person in my life and never been to South Florida” denials make me wonder if there’s actually nothing here for some of these players. Not that you expect people to completely fess up if they did something wrong, but don’t you think that if a player got caught they’d at least try the “I thought it was vitamins” defense or something? Categorically denying it all if it’s clear that the truth will come out in the coming weeks is bad PR. Or maybe I’m just naive and they’re expecting that MLB won’t be able to find the smoking gun and they’ll be able to get off.
Just read the article from the Miami New Times, and there is a *ton* of information involving this case. As stated, Montero not mentioned in the original article. However, as for the company you keep — yowza. This guy Bosch is slimy.
It’s impossible to gauge the authenticity of all the “evidence”. Nearly all the data collected by the journalists were supplied by former employees, most of whom were still owed money by Bosch. So, they might have an axe to grind — although, if I were running this operation, I would *intentionally* not pay them toward the end so as to automatically throw doubt on their stories (disgruntled ex-employees.) However, a lot of it checked out — phone numbers, dates, etc. A hand-writing analysis against Bosch will be necessary to determine if the information is authentic. This Bosch guy could be making all this up and simply filling books with his imagination.
There was no smoking gun, however; nothing like a shipment of winstrol headed to some address. The only intersect points, based on what I read, were that some of the names mentioned here were also players who failed tests last season and were served 50-game suspensions.
All this has nothing to do with Montero, but this is not a good way of getting your name in the newspaper.
Mike Zunino, Starting Catcher 2013?
And again, being the optimist I am, I have to believe they were dealing in some LEGIT products that aren’t banned too… Or there’s no way this many players would be involved.
Overall, it’s sounding like a lot of it has to do with the agents (listening to Jerry Brewer and Elise Woodward talk about it earlier). People are drawing threads through the names of guys represented by them, and how the agents have a relationship with BioGenesis, including recommending their products.
As Jerry Brewer said, there’s a difference between your name coming up in association with them and having actually failed a drug test. And MLB will only be involved if/when there are failed drug tests.
So yeah, fingers crossed.
We’re finally trying!!!
MLB is already involved and can suspend players without a failed drug test; see Kyle Pelchy.
Well, I have to admit that when I read about A-Rod “being linked” (whatever that means) to this outfit, I was totally sympathetic with the Yankees’ attempts to void his contract. So, I guess to be consistent…On the other hand, the linking just reinforced what A-Rod already had admitted to in the past. @Hutch A guy did an analysis of Ray Lewis’ deer antler spray denial. I’m exaggerating but if your denial is straightforward, “No, didn’t take anything illegal supplied by this company.” you’re probably OK. It’s when you go over the top that you lose credibility. “South Florida? I’ve never even been there! Hell, I couldn’t even find it on a map!”
Liam-
Pelchy got suspended specifically for refusing to take a test. Which MLB views the same as a failed test.
That’s different.
The rules regarding PEDs/drugs are very specifically spelled out as negotiated by MLBPA and MLB. Including, even if a player fails a test, teams aren’t allowed to take action themselves, without the MLB’s authority.
So yeah, until a test is failed (or a player refuses a test), they won’t face the 3 levels of suspension for PEDs. (At least as I’ve read it explained.)
Westside-
That pretty much sums up my take on it.
Well said.
Just as a gut feel thing, and certainly not anything based on factual or numbers-driven evidence… but does anyone else think that this offseason seems to have been more notable for a new video screen, the planned new “Edgar’s” eating area, this PED story and the Morse-for-Jaso trade, than anything else?
It really doesn’t seem like this offseason had much in the way of positive roster news. Unless you want to be charitably optimistic and call Morse/Jaso and Vargas/Morales a lateral move.
Kind of sad when aspects of the ballpark and presentation, or off-field rumors and potential scandal, are more interesting than any player acquisitions.
In all fairness, unless Hamilton was going to pick the M’s offer, there probably wasn’t any possible big news for this offseason’s roster juggles…so naturally the side show becomes the feature.
I’ll take Montero’s denials at face value for now. Whatever document his name showed up on could have been a big list of players the business wanted to try to do business with, like a cold-call list of sorts, right? I mean…who knows? It could have said, “List of potential suckers we can get to through Alex” at the top, for all we know, right? Without a failed test to beat him over the head with, I’m not going to vilify what little offense we still have…Jesus, we need your bat. I reserve judgment.
I am getting too old and/or cynical for this type of news to occur so routinely, but I will take several of the denials at face-value. Mostly becuase I want to.
I will cherry-pick the rest.
We stopped winning once PED testing started. Bring back the roids!
The good news is, we just locked up Felix for seven more years.
7 more years … or an additional 5 years on top of the 2 years he alrady had remaining?
I can see a 7 year contract if the 2 remaining years of his existing contract were incorporated into it (or even increased in AAV and became part of it).
A performance enhancement drug…? Haven’t they seen the guy run? The Defense rests its case.
^^^^^^my thoughts exactly!^^^^^^
If last season was Montero on steroids, than I couldn’t imagine what he would play like without them! I would have to agree that Montero’s name being involved is just poppy-cock, as I’m sure it is with most of the names that have been mentioned.